‘Phantom’ Shows Its Power in Video Arena

Last May, “The Tonight Show” tapped into the pre-release hype and hysteria surrounding “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” with a comic bit in which Jimmy Brogan, one of the show’s writers, camped out in line. The joke was that he was not, like thousands across the country, waiting outside a movie theater to be among the first to see the film, but outside a video store to be the first to rent it.

The wait is nearly over. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will launch “Phantom Menace” on video April 4. Despite some negative reviews and media backlash, the decision not to release a DVD version and, of course, the much-maligned Jar Jar Binks, retailers and business observers believe the title will give the industry a light-speed boost.

“There are very few real events in this business, and this is a true event,” noted Kevin Brass, executive editor of Video Store, a trade publication. “Some retailers are grumbling about this or that, but it will still be the biggest thing of the year without a doubt. It is one of the few titles that people will plan their week around to get it as soon as it appears.”

“Phantom Menace” will be released on VHS only, in a full-frame, pan-and-scan version for the suggested retail price of $25. A limited-edition wide-screen “Collector’s Edition,” which will include a bonus documentary about the making of the film, a 35-millimeter film strip and a 48-page collector’s book, will retail for $40.

“Phantom Menace,” which topped $430 million in the United States and Canada, could not sink “Titanic” as the all-time box-office champ, and it will have an equally daunting task to surpass it in video sales too (“Titanic” has sold about 28 million copies). But while Fox declines to release order tallies at this point, other indicators suggest that the Force is still strong.

According to Anne Hurley, Amazon.com’s editor in chief for DVD and video, customer pre-orders catapulted “Phantom” to No. 1 on the Web site’s top-seller list, where it has remained since the announcement in January of the video release.

Dean Wilson, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Blockbuster, estimated that “Phantom Menace” will generate “3 million customer visits for us.”

“This is huge,” echoed Sean Mahoney, senior director of public affairs and media relations for the Hollywood Video chain. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest and requests. We expect pre-orders to get into six figures over the course of the next couple of weeks.”

Others are taking a more tempered outlook. “It’s going to do well because it had such big box office and because it’s ‘Star Wars,’ so it has that legacy,” said Mark Vrieling, chairman of the Video Software Dealer’s Assn. and owner of the three-store, Seattle-based Rain City chain. “On the other hand, it doesn’t have the secondary buzz that the old ‘Star Wars’ did. I don’t think we’re going to get the repeat viewership that we do on, say, some of the Disney movies. Here, you hear about how annoying Jar Jar Binks is.”

“Phantom Menace” will not quite have the field to itself as it did in its initial theatrical release. Buena Vista Home Video is re-releasing the animated feature “The Aristocats” on the same day, and the following week sees three prestige rental releases: Oscar nominees “The Insider” and “Tumbleweeds,” plus “Three Kings.”

But retailers said the timing of “Phantom’s” video release in the comparatively slower month of April is opportune. “Anytime is a good time,” said Peggy Dorrance, co-owner of Video Station in Alameda. “It will bring people into the store who haven’t been in regularly. The whole ‘Star Wars’ industry is just such an incredible and exciting thing for video. It’s something that is extremely special. If we had gotten the trailer a year ago, we could have sold that.”

The release of the film also coincides with Easter, which has blossomed into a profitable holiday. “Parents are looking for an alternative to candy for Easter baskets,” said Craig Thomas, director of video marketing for Suncoast Motion Picture Co. “Videos have become a gift-giving item. We see a spike in sales during the Hallmark holidays.”

Video stores and online retailers will by vying for customers’ hearts, mind and money. Blockbuster, for example, plans to open at 12:01 a.m. on April 4, and customers can enter an in-store contest held April 4-9 to win one of the 36-inch Yodas that the chain will have on display in its more than 4,000 stores. Online retailer Reel.com has created a one-stop shop for “Star Wars” product, offering a package that includes the now officially out-of-print “Star Wars” trilogy box set, the collector’s edition of “Phantom” and the movie soundtrack. It retails for $150, and profits will go to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

As befitting a film that introduces young Anakin Skywalker, the boy who would be Darth Vader, there is a dark side to “Phantom’s” release. The absence of a DVD version has riled champions of the burgeoning digital format, which offers better picture and sound than videotape.

“I’m a big advocate [of DVD],” Vrieling said, “and we’re being denied the biggest title of the year. “This [movie] is a visual feast, and these types of movies are why so many customers have gone over to DVD. My clerks are going to be so tired of responding to why this isn’t out on DVD.”

And why isn’t it? Lucasfilm issued a written response to a complaint from the Web site DVDFILE, which is posted there: “Lucasfilm’s delay in putting the ‘Star Wars’ movies out on the DVD format has nothing to do with the format itself. It is simply a matter of time and availability on the part of George--currently at work on ‘Episode II’--and his creative team at Lucasfilm.”

Purists may carp, but they can take some comfort in the fact that “Phantom Menace” will look better on video than the original trilogy when they were first issued, according to Rick Dean, principal engineer of the THX Digital Mastering Program, which is in charge of the video transfer.

“It is going to look as good as VHS can possibly handle,” he said. “It’s a strict process. We stayed within the digital domain right up until the information was transferred to the VHS tapes. We’ve been reviewing final product for the last month and a half. I don’t think anybody in this office has seen the movie any less than 70 times.”

While pan-and-scan is not as preferable as wide-screen, he said, “You won’t notice the movement of the pans very much, which is due to better film-mastering techniques. There has been a complete re-engineering of the tools that we use to get the image off the film and on to video. These have vastly helped us maintain the art.”